


Can't say no

by ricekrispyjoints



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Anxiety, Dogs, Domestic Fluff, M/M, Pets, Service Dogs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-16 22:30:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21278786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ricekrispyjoints/pseuds/ricekrispyjoints
Summary: Bitty isn't so sure about this dog-having business, but he can put aside his concerns when he sees how great she is for Jack.





	Can't say no

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hydraxx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hydraxx/gifts).

> kofi commission for my pal emily (hydraxx on tumblr) ! i absolute adore this request, thank u for my life

“You’re not serious.”

Bitty looks from Jack to the motley little creature panting and wagging its tail happily at Jack’s heels.

He had gotten to Jack’s apartment early, while Jack was out “running errands”. Bitty had hoped to surprise Jack with his presence, but clearly Jack was the one with a surprising presence today.

“We talked about pets,” Jack says, a gentle smile that belies how happy he really is. If it wasn’t so adorable, Bitty would feel a lot less conflicted. “Her name was Grenadine at the shelter, but I think we should give her a hockey name instead.”

‘Grenadine’ (new name pending, apparently) is like no dog Bitty has ever seen.

In fact, he’s not entirely sure she is a dog.

Her shoulder comes to about Jack’s knee, and she has a speckled white and reddish-brown coat. It’s fairly short, except for a few shaggier patches on her chest and front legs, which sort of makes her look like the front and back halves belong to two different animals.

Her ears remind Bitty of bats, though one is laid back against her head and the other is perked up at full attention.

By far the least impressive, though, is her absolutely vacant stare.

The expression “the lights are on but nobody’s home” comes to mind.

“So um, why did you get a dog today?” Bitty tries.

Grenadine continues panting happily, and Bitty is just glad she’s not jumping on him or licking him or something. 

“How could I say no to that face?” Jack says.

“I mean, why did you get one _now_?” Bitty insists.

(He’s supposed to be the cute one, not some dog.)

“Well, I had visited the shelter before, we talked about what I’m looking for, and they did their whole home check thing a couple days ago,” Jack explains. “I also had a chance to check out a dog walking service for away games, though if you’re free to stay with her sometimes, you’re more than welcome.”

Bitty is pretty sure he will be doing no such thing, but he tries to smile for Jack. “Well, I’ve never really spent much time around dogs, so not sure how good I’d be for her.”

“Dogs are easy to take care of.”

“Cats are easier,” Bitty retorts.

“Different,” Jack shrugs. “C’mon, come say hello properly. She’s real sweet.”

Bitty will admit, she’s _incredibly _well behaved for a shelter dog, but he’s not entirely sure it’s not because she’s just too clueless to act like 98% of dogs Bitty has ever met.

“How old is she?”

“They think she’s about three or four.”

“And um, do they know what… breed?”

“Nope,” Jack says, and his grin is almost as goofy as the dog’s.

Bitty is certainly seeing how they suit each other, though he’s not really sure how _he _is going to fit into the dynamic.

He pets her gently, a bit unsure. Her fur is soft on the longer, scruffier bits and a bit more wiry where it’s short.

She closes her eyes and leans into him as he scratches behind her ears. It's kind of cute.

“She’s not sleeping in the bed with us,” Bitty says.

“I bought her her own bed,” Jack says simply.

Of course he did.

By the end of the month, Grenadine is renamed Tilly – “It’s funny because it’s a hockey thing but also a girl’s name”—and is enrolled in obedience training. For as vacant as she looks, she does well in obedience training.

Jack talks about Tilly _all _the time: “Tilly and I went for a run this morning. She did really well, though she doesn’t really run in a straight line, ha ha,”; “I gave Tilly a piece of zucchini from my dinner last night. I was reading about what vegetables are good for dogs and I think she liked it” (though this story was also followed by an update about the consistency of her _number twos_ so Bitty really hopes that’s not a recurring theme).

Bitty is pleased that Jack enjoys having a dog around, and really, it would be stupid to be jealous of a dog.

And as much as he doesn’t want to admit it, Tilly really is growing on him.

When he’s been at Jack’s while Jack is out at practice, he brings her bed into the kitchen and talks to her as he bakes.

She’s even made a guest appearance on his vlog, because he got cooking oil on the floor and she licked it up, and alright, it was pretty cute.

After Tilly passes her basic obedience classes, Jack enrolls the two of them in therapy training, not that she’ll get fully certified, necessarily, but so she can help him with anxiety on his bad days.

It sounds kind of silly at first, but her training is essentially to sit on Jack’s chest when he’s feeling anxious. It’s a good thing Jack is so big, because Tilly isn’t exactly tiny, but she curls up into a little donut on his chest, and lays there, her nose on his neck, until he gives her the command to get up.

Bitty is there with them to practice, sometimes, and he talks Jack through breathing exercises.

The first time Jack has an anxiety attack after Tilly, Bitty is there. They work through it together, though Bitty is torn between letting Tilly be there and calming Jack down himself.

The second time, Bitty is not there, and he is very grateful to that little mutt for being there when he couldn’t be.

“It’s not that I don’t want you to be there,” Jack confides in him a few days after the second attack. “It’s just that… I feel better knowing that I’m not burdening you, too. I know you say you don’t mind helping, and I believe it. But at the same time… in the moment? It helps to not have to convince my brain that I’m not inconveniencing you, too. With Tilly, well… she doesn’t care. She lays on me and gets a cookie afterwards. It’s an easy gig.”

Hearing it like that, Bitty gets it. He really does.

And if he’s the one trying to convince Jack to put rabbit ears on her so she can be a “puck bunny” for Halloween, well… how could you say no to that face?

**Author's Note:**

> come find me on [tumblr](http://ricekrispyjoints.tumblr.com), if you're into that kind of thing


End file.
